diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/lsong10.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/lsong10.txt | 2067 |
1 files changed, 2067 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/lsong10.txt b/old/lsong10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fb37c14 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/lsong10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2067 @@ +**The Project Gutenberg Etext of Love Songs, by Sara Teasdale** + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. + + +Love Songs, by Sara Teasdale + +February, 1996 [Etext #442] + + +**The Project Gutenberg Etext of Love Songs, by Sara Teasdale** +******This file should be named lsong10.txt or lsong10.zip***** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, lsong11.txt. +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, lsong10a.txt. + + +Entered/Proofed by A. Light <alight@mercury.interpath.net>. For Gwenette. +Proofed by L. Bowser <bowser@mars.senecac.on.ca> + + +We are now trying to release all our books one month in advance +of the official release dates, for time for better editing. + +Please note: neither this list nor its contents are final till +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. To be sure you have an +up to date first edition [xxxxx10x.xxx] please check file sizes +in the first week of the next month. Since our ftp program has +a bug in it that scrambles the date [tried to fix and failed] a +look at the file size will have to do, but we will try to see a +new copy has at least one byte more or less. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +fifty hours is one conservative estimate for how long it we take +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $4 +million dollars per hour this year as we release some eight text +files per month: thus upping our productivity from $2 million. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by the December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000=Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is 10% of the expected number of computer users by the end +of the year 2001. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +All donations should be made to "Project Gutenberg/IBC", and are +tax deductible to the extent allowable by law ("IBC" is Illinois +Benedictine College). (Subscriptions to our paper newsletter go +to IBC, too) + +For these and other matters, please mail to: + +Project Gutenberg +P. O. Box 2782 +Champaign, IL 61825 + +When all other email fails try our Michael S. Hart, Executive +Director: +hart@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu (internet) hart@uiucvmd (bitnet) + +We would prefer to send you this information by email +(Internet, Bitnet, Compuserve, ATTMAIL or MCImail). + +****** +If you have an FTP program (or emulator), please +FTP directly to the Project Gutenberg archives: +[Mac users, do NOT point and click. . .type] + +ftp uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd etext/etext90 through /etext96 +or cd etext/articles [get suggest gut for more information] +dir [to see files] +get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files] +GET INDEX?00.GUT +for a list of books +and +GET NEW GUT for general information +and +MGET GUT* for newsletters. + +**Information prepared by the Project Gutenberg legal advisor** +(Three Pages) + + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you can distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG- +tm etexts, is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor +Michael S. Hart through the Project Gutenberg Association at +Illinois Benedictine College (the "Project"). Among other +things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the Project's "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] the Project (and any other party you may receive this +etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold the Project, its directors, +officers, members and agents harmless from all liability, cost +and expense, including legal fees, that arise directly or +indirectly from any of the following that you do or cause: +[1] distribution of this etext, [2] alteration, modification, +or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word pro- + cessing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the + net profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association / Illinois + Benedictine College" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Illinois Benedictine College". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Love Songs +By Sara Teasdale [American (Missouri & New York) poet, 1884-1933.] + + + + + +[Note on text: Italicized stanzas are indented 5 spaces. +Two italicized lines are marked by asterisks (*). +Lines longer than 78 characters are broken, +and the continuation is indented two spaces.] + +[This etext was transcribed from a 1918 reprinting of the 1917 edition, +which was the original. It is interesting that some of those poems +included from earlier volumes have been slightly changed in this book.] + + + + + + +Love Songs + +By Sara Teasdale +Author of "Rivers to the Sea", "Helen of Troy and Other Poems", Etc. + + + + + + +To E. + + + + I have remembered beauty in the night, + Against black silences I waked to see + A shower of sunlight over Italy + And green Ravello dreaming on her height; + I have remembered music in the dark, + The clean swift brightness of a fugue of Bach's, + And running water singing on the rocks + When once in English woods I heard a lark. + + But all remembered beauty is no more + Than a vague prelude to the thought of you -- + You are the rarest soul I ever knew, + Lover of beauty, knightliest and best; + My thoughts seek you as waves that seek the shore, + And when I think of you, I am at rest. + + + + + + +Prefatory Note + + + +Beside new poems, this book contains lyrics taken from "Rivers to the Sea", +"Helen of Troy and Other Poems", and one or two from an earlier volume. + + + + + + +Contents + + + + I + +Barter +Twilight +Night Song at Amalfi +The Look +A Winter Night +A Cry +Gifts +But Not to Me +Song at Capri +Child, Child +Love Me +Pierrot +Wild Asters +The Song for Colin +Four Winds +Debt +Faults +Buried Love +The Fountain +I Shall Not Care +After Parting +A Prayer +Spring Night +May Wind +Tides +After Love +New Love and Old +The Kiss +Swans +The River +November +Spring Rain +The Ghost +Summer Night, Riverside +Jewels + + + II + +Interlude: Songs out of Sorrow + +I. Spirit's House +II. Mastery +III. Lessons +IV. Wisdom +V. In a Burying Ground +VI. Wood Song +VII. Refuge + + + III + +The Flight +Dew +To-night +Ebb Tide +I Would Live in Your Love +Because +The Tree of Song +The Giver +April Song +The Wanderer +The Years +Enough +Come +Joy +Riches +Dusk in War Time +Peace +Moods +Houses of Dreams +Lights +"I Am Not Yours" +Doubt +The Wind +Morning +Other Men +Embers +Message +The Lamp + + + IV + +A November Night + + + + + + +Love Songs + + + + + + + I + + + + + + +Barter + + + +Life has loveliness to sell, + All beautiful and splendid things, +Blue waves whitened on a cliff, + Soaring fire that sways and sings, +And children's faces looking up +Holding wonder like a cup. + +Life has loveliness to sell, + Music like a curve of gold, +Scent of pine trees in the rain, + Eyes that love you, arms that hold, +And for your spirit's still delight, +Holy thoughts that star the night. + +Spend all you have for loveliness, + Buy it and never count the cost; +For one white singing hour of peace + Count many a year of strife well lost, +And for a breath of ecstasy +Give all you have been, or could be. + + + + +Twilight + + + +Dreamily over the roofs + The cold spring rain is falling; +Out in the lonely tree + A bird is calling, calling. + +Slowly over the earth + The wings of night are falling; +My heart like the bird in the tree + Is calling, calling, calling. + + + + +Night Song at Amalfi + + + +I asked the heaven of stars + What I should give my love -- +It answered me with silence, + Silence above. + +I asked the darkened sea + Down where the fishers go -- +It answered me with silence, + Silence below. + +Oh, I could give him weeping, + Or I could give him song -- +But how can I give silence, + My whole life long? + + + + +The Look + + + +Strephon kissed me in the spring, + Robin in the fall, +But Colin only looked at me + And never kissed at all. + +Strephon's kiss was lost in jest, + Robin's lost in play, +But the kiss in Colin's eyes + Haunts me night and day. + + + + +A Winter Night + + + +My window-pane is starred with frost, + The world is bitter cold to-night, +The moon is cruel, and the wind + Is like a two-edged sword to smite. + +God pity all the homeless ones, + The beggars pacing to and fro, +God pity all the poor to-night + Who walk the lamp-lit streets of snow. + +My room is like a bit of June, + Warm and close-curtained fold on fold, +But somewhere, like a homeless child, + My heart is crying in the cold. + + + + +A Cry + + + +Oh, there are eyes that he can see, + And hands to make his hands rejoice, +But to my lover I must be + Only a voice. + +Oh, there are breasts to bear his head, + And lips whereon his lips can lie, +But I must be till I am dead + Only a cry. + + + + +Gifts + + + +I gave my first love laughter, + I gave my second tears, +I gave my third love silence + Through all the years. + +My first love gave me singing, + My second eyes to see, +But oh, it was my third love + Who gave my soul to me. + + + + +But Not to Me + + + +The April night is still and sweet + With flowers on every tree; +Peace comes to them on quiet feet, + But not to me. + +My peace is hidden in his breast + Where I shall never be; +Love comes to-night to all the rest, + But not to me. + + + + +Song at Capri + + + +When beauty grows too great to bear + How shall I ease me of its ache, +For beauty more than bitterness + Makes the heart break. + +Now while I watch the dreaming sea + With isles like flowers against her breast, +Only one voice in all the world + Could give me rest. + + + + +Child, Child + + + +Child, child, love while you can +The voice and the eyes and the soul of a man; +Never fear though it break your heart -- +Out of the wound new joy will start; +Only love proudly and gladly and well, +Though love be heaven or love be hell. + +Child, child, love while you may, +For life is short as a happy day; +Never fear the thing you feel -- +Only by love is life made real; +Love, for the deadly sins are seven, +Only through love will you enter heaven. + + + + +Love Me + + + +Brown-thrush singing all day long + In the leaves above me, +Take my love this April song, + "Love me, love me, love me!" + +When he harkens what you say, + Bid him, lest he miss me, +Leave his work or leave his play, + And kiss me, kiss me, kiss me! + + + + +Pierrot + + + +Pierrot stands in the garden + Beneath a waning moon, +And on his lute he fashions + A fragile silver tune. + +Pierrot plays in the garden, + He thinks he plays for me, +But I am quite forgotten + Under the cherry tree. + +Pierrot plays in the garden, + And all the roses know +That Pierrot loves his music, -- + But I love Pierrot. + + + + +Wild Asters + + + +In the spring I asked the daisies + If his words were true, +And the clever, clear-eyed daisies + Always knew. + +Now the fields are brown and barren, + Bitter autumn blows, +And of all the stupid asters + Not one knows. + + + + +The Song for Colin + + + +I sang a song at dusking time + Beneath the evening star, +And Terence left his latest rhyme + To answer from afar. + +Pierrot laid down his lute to weep, + And sighed, "She sings for me." +But Colin slept a careless sleep + Beneath an apple tree. + + + + +Four Winds + + + +"Four winds blowing through the sky, +You have seen poor maidens die, +Tell me then what I shall do +That my lover may be true." +Said the wind from out the south, +"Lay no kiss upon his mouth," +And the wind from out the west, +"Wound the heart within his breast," +And the wind from out the east, +"Send him empty from the feast," +And the wind from out the north, +"In the tempest thrust him forth; +When thou art more cruel than he, +Then will Love be kind to thee." + + + + +Debt + + + +What do I owe to you + Who loved me deep and long? +You never gave my spirit wings + Or gave my heart a song. + +But oh, to him I loved, + Who loved me not at all, +I owe the open gate + That led through heaven's wall. + + + + +Faults + + + +They came to tell your faults to me, +They named them over one by one; +I laughed aloud when they were done, +I knew them all so well before, -- +Oh, they were blind, too blind to see +Your faults had made me love you more. + + + + +Buried Love + + + +I have come to bury Love + Beneath a tree, +In the forest tall and black + Where none can see. + +I shall put no flowers at his head, + Nor stone at his feet, +For the mouth I loved so much + Was bittersweet. + +I shall go no more to his grave, + For the woods are cold. +I shall gather as much of joy + As my hands can hold. + +I shall stay all day in the sun + Where the wide winds blow, -- +But oh, I shall cry at night + When none will know. + + + + +The Fountain + + + +All through the deep blue night + The fountain sang alone; +It sang to the drowsy heart + Of the satyr carved in stone. + +The fountain sang and sang, + But the satyr never stirred -- +Only the great white moon + In the empty heaven heard. + +The fountain sang and sang + While on the marble rim +The milk-white peacocks slept, + And their dreams were strange and dim. + +Bright dew was on the grass, + And on the ilex, dew, +The dreamy milk-white birds + Were all a-glisten, too. + +The fountain sang and sang + The things one cannot tell; +The dreaming peacocks stirred + And the gleaming dew-drops fell. + + + + +I Shall Not Care + + + +When I am dead and over me bright April + Shakes out her rain-drenched hair, +Though you should lean above me broken-hearted, + I shall not care. + +I shall have peace, as leafy trees are peaceful + When rain bends down the bough, +And I shall be more silent and cold-hearted + Than you are now. + + + + +After Parting + + + +Oh, I have sown my love so wide + That he will find it everywhere; +It will awake him in the night, + It will enfold him in the air. + +I set my shadow in his sight + And I have winged it with desire, +That it may be a cloud by day, + And in the night a shaft of fire. + + + + +A Prayer + + + +Until I lose my soul and lie + Blind to the beauty of the earth, +Deaf though shouting wind goes by, + Dumb in a storm of mirth; + +Until my heart is quenched at length + And I have left the land of men, +Oh, let me love with all my strength + Careless if I am loved again. + + + + +Spring Night + + + +The park is filled with night and fog, + The veils are drawn about the world, +The drowsy lights along the paths + Are dim and pearled. + +Gold and gleaming the empty streets, + Gold and gleaming the misty lake, +The mirrored lights like sunken swords, + Glimmer and shake. + +Oh, is it not enough to be +Here with this beauty over me? +My throat should ache with praise, and I +Should kneel in joy beneath the sky. +O, beauty, are you not enough? +Why am I crying after love, +With youth, a singing voice, and eyes +To take earth's wonder with surprise? + +Why have I put off my pride, +Why am I unsatisfied, -- +I, for whom the pensive night +Binds her cloudy hair with light, -- +I, for whom all beauty burns +Like incense in a million urns? +O beauty, are you not enough? +Why am I crying after love? + + + + +May Wind + + + +I said, "I have shut my heart + As one shuts an open door, +That Love may starve therein + And trouble me no more." + +But over the roofs there came + The wet new wind of May, +And a tune blew up from the curb + Where the street-pianos play. + +My room was white with the sun + And Love cried out in me, +"I am strong, I will break your heart + Unless you set me free." + + + + +Tides + + + +Love in my heart was a fresh tide flowing + Where the starlike sea gulls soar; +The sun was keen and the foam was blowing + High on the rocky shore. + +But now in the dusk the tide is turning, + Lower the sea gulls soar, +And the waves that rose in resistless yearning + Are broken forevermore. + + + + +After Love + + + +There is no magic any more, + We meet as other people do, +You work no miracle for me + Nor I for you. + +You were the wind and I the sea -- + There is no splendor any more, +I have grown listless as the pool + Beside the shore. + +But though the pool is safe from storm + And from the tide has found surcease, +It grows more bitter than the sea, + For all its peace. + + + + +New Love and Old + + + +In my heart the old love + Struggled with the new; +It was ghostly waking + All night through. + +Dear things, kind things, + That my old love said, +Ranged themselves reproachfully + Round my bed. + +But I could not heed them, + For I seemed to see +The eyes of my new love + Fixed on me. + +Old love, old love, + How can I be true? +Shall I be faithless to myself + Or to you? + + + + +The Kiss + + + +I hoped that he would love me, + And he has kissed my mouth, +But I am like a stricken bird + That cannot reach the south. + +For though I know he loves me, + To-night my heart is sad; +His kiss was not so wonderful + As all the dreams I had. + + + + +Swans + + + +Night is over the park, and a few brave stars + Look on the lights that link it with chains of gold, +The lake bears up their reflection in broken bars + That seem too heavy for tremulous water to hold. + +We watch the swans that sleep in a shadowy place, + And now and again one wakes and uplifts its head; +How still you are -- your gaze is on my face -- + We watch the swans and never a word is said. + + + + +The River + + + +I came from the sunny valleys + And sought for the open sea, +For I thought in its gray expanses + My peace would come to me. + +I came at last to the ocean + And found it wild and black, +And I cried to the windless valleys, + "Be kind and take me back!" + +But the thirsty tide ran inland, + And the salt waves drank of me, +And I who was fresh as the rainfall + Am bitter as the sea. + + + + +November + + + +The world is tired, the year is old, + The fading leaves are glad to die, +The wind goes shivering with cold + Where the brown reeds are dry. + +Our love is dying like the grass, + And we who kissed grow coldly kind, +Half glad to see our old love pass + Like leaves along the wind. + + + + +Spring Rain + + + +I thought I had forgotten, + But it all came back again +To-night with the first spring thunder + In a rush of rain. + +I remembered a darkened doorway + Where we stood while the storm swept by, +Thunder gripping the earth + And lightning scrawled on the sky. + +The passing motor busses swayed, + For the street was a river of rain, +Lashed into little golden waves + In the lamp light's stain. + +With the wild spring rain and thunder + My heart was wild and gay; +Your eyes said more to me that night + Than your lips would ever say. . . . + +I thought I had forgotten, + But it all came back again +To-night with the first spring thunder + In a rush of rain. + + + + +The Ghost + + + +I went back to the clanging city, + I went back where my old loves stayed, +But my heart was full of my new love's glory, + My eyes were laughing and unafraid. + +I met one who had loved me madly + And told his love for all to hear -- +But we talked of a thousand things together, + The past was buried too deep to fear. + +I met the other, whose love was given + With never a kiss and scarcely a word -- +Oh, it was then the terror took me + Of words unuttered that breathed and stirred. + +Oh, love that lives its life with laughter + Or love that lives its life with tears +Can die -- but love that is never spoken + Goes like a ghost through the winding years. . . . + +I went back to the clanging city, + I went back where my old loves stayed, +My heart was full of my new love's glory, -- + But my eyes were suddenly afraid. + + + + +Summer Night, Riverside + + + +In the wild, soft summer darkness +How many and many a night we two together +Sat in the park and watched the Hudson +Wearing her lights like golden spangles +Glinting on black satin. +The rail along the curving pathway +Was low in a happy place to let us cross, +And down the hill a tree that dripped with bloom +Sheltered us, +While your kisses and the flowers, +Falling, falling, +Tangled my hair. . . . + + +The frail white stars moved slowly over the sky. + + +And now, far off +In the fragrant darkness +The tree is tremulous again with bloom, +For June comes back. + +To-night what girl +Dreamily before her mirror shakes from her hair +This year's blossoms, clinging in its coils? + + + + +Jewels + + + +If I should see your eyes again, + I know how far their look would go -- +Back to a morning in the park + With sapphire shadows on the snow. + +Or back to oak trees in the spring + When you unloosed my hair and kissed +The head that lay against your knees + In the leaf shadow's amethyst. + +And still another shining place + We would remember -- how the dun +Wild mountain held us on its crest + One diamond morning white with sun. + +But I will turn my eyes from you + As women turn to put away +The jewels they have worn at night + And cannot wear in sober day. + + + + + + + II + +Interlude: Songs out of Sorrow + + + + + + +I. Spirit's House + + + +From naked stones of agony +I will build a house for me; +As a mason all alone +I will raise it, stone by stone, +And every stone where I have bled +Will show a sign of dusky red. +I have not gone the way in vain, +For I have good of all my pain; +My spirit's quiet house will be +Built of naked stones I trod +On roads where I lost sight of God. + + + + +II. Mastery + + + +I would not have a god come in +To shield me suddenly from sin, +And set my house of life to rights; +Nor angels with bright burning wings +Ordering my earthly thoughts and things; +Rather my own frail guttering lights +Wind blown and nearly beaten out; +Rather the terror of the nights +And long, sick groping after doubt; +Rather be lost than let my soul +Slip vaguely from my own control -- +Of my own spirit let me be +In sole though feeble mastery. + + + + +III. Lessons + + + +Unless I learn to ask no help + From any other soul but mine, +To seek no strength in waving reeds + Nor shade beneath a straggling pine; +Unless I learn to look at Grief + Unshrinking from her tear-blind eyes, +And take from Pleasure fearlessly + Whatever gifts will make me wise -- +Unless I learn these things on earth, +Why was I ever given birth? + + + + +IV. Wisdom + + + +When I have ceased to break my wings +Against the faultiness of things, +And learned that compromises wait +Behind each hardly opened gate, +When I can look Life in the eyes, +Grown calm and very coldly wise, +Life will have given me the Truth, +And taken in exchange -- my youth. + + + + +V. In a Burying Ground + + + +This is the spot where I will lie + When life has had enough of me, +These are the grasses that will blow + Above me like a living sea. + +These gay old lilies will not shrink + To draw their life from death of mine, +And I will give my body's fire + To make blue flowers on this vine. + +"O Soul," I said, "have you no tears? + Was not the body dear to you?" +I heard my soul say carelessly, + "The myrtle flowers will grow more blue." + + + + +VI. Wood Song + + + +I heard a wood thrush in the dusk + Twirl three notes and make a star -- +My heart that walked with bitterness + Came back from very far. + +Three shining notes were all he had, + And yet they made a starry call -- +I caught life back against my breast + And kissed it, scars and all. + + + + +VII. Refuge + + + +From my spirit's gray defeat, +From my pulse's flagging beat, +From my hopes that turned to sand +Sifting through my close-clenched hand, +From my own fault's slavery, +If I can sing, I still am free. + +For with my singing I can make +A refuge for my spirit's sake, +A house of shining words, to be +My fragile immortality. + + + + + + + III + + + + + + +The Flight + + + +Look back with longing eyes and know that I will follow, +Lift me up in your love as a light wind lifts a swallow, +Let our flight be far in sun or blowing rain -- +*But what if I heard my first love calling me again?* + +Hold me on your heart as the brave sea holds the foam, +Take me far away to the hills that hide your home; +Peace shall thatch the roof and love shall latch the door -- +*But what if I heard my first love calling me once more?* + + + + +Dew + + + +As dew leaves the cobweb lightly + Threaded with stars, +Scattering jewels on the fence + And the pasture bars; +As dawn leaves the dry grass bright + And the tangled weeds +Bearing a rainbow gem + On each of their seeds; +So has your love, my lover, + Fresh as the dawn, +Made me a shining road + To travel on, +Set every common sight + Of tree or stone +Delicately alight + For me alone. + + + + +To-night + + + +The moon is a curving flower of gold, + The sky is still and blue; +The moon was made for the sky to hold, + And I for you. + +The moon is a flower without a stem, + The sky is luminous; +Eternity was made for them, + To-night for us. + + + + +Ebb Tide + + + +When the long day goes by + And I do not see your face, +The old wild, restless sorrow + Steals from its hiding place. + +My day is barren and broken, + Bereft of light and song, +A sea beach bleak and windy + That moans the whole day long. + +To the empty beach at ebb tide, + Bare with its rocks and scars, +Come back like the sea with singing, + And light of a million stars. + + + + +I Would Live in Your Love + + + +I would live in your love as the sea-grasses live in the sea, +Borne up by each wave as it passes, drawn down by each wave that recedes; +I would empty my soul of the dreams that have gathered in me, +I would beat with your heart as it beats, I would follow your soul + as it leads. + + + + +Because + + + +Oh, because you never tried +To bow my will or break my pride, +And nothing of the cave-man made +You want to keep me half afraid, +Nor ever with a conquering air +You thought to draw me unaware -- +Take me, for I love you more +Than I ever loved before. + +And since the body's maidenhood +Alone were neither rare nor good +Unless with it I gave to you +A spirit still untrammeled, too, +Take my dreams and take my mind +That were masterless as wind; +And "Master!" I shall say to you +Since you never asked me to. + + + + +The Tree of Song + + + +I sang my songs for the rest, + For you I am still; +The tree of my song is bare + On its shining hill. + +For you came like a lordly wind, + And the leaves were whirled +Far as forgotten things + Past the rim of the world. + +The tree of my song stands bare + Against the blue -- +I gave my songs to the rest, + Myself to you. + + + + +The Giver + + + +You bound strong sandals on my feet, + You gave me bread and wine, +And sent me under sun and stars, + For all the world was mine. + +Oh, take the sandals off my feet, + You know not what you do; +For all my world is in your arms, + My sun and stars are you. + + + + +April Song + + + +Willow, in your April gown + Delicate and gleaming, +Do you mind in years gone by + All my dreaming? + +Spring was like a call to me + That I could not answer, +I was chained to loneliness, + I, the dancer. + +Willow, twinkling in the sun, + Still your leaves and hear me, +I can answer spring at last, + Love is near me! + + + + +The Wanderer + + + +I saw the sunset-colored sands, + The Nile like flowing fire between, + Where Rameses stares forth serene, +And Ammon's heavy temple stands. + +I saw the rocks where long ago, + Above the sea that cries and breaks, + Swift Perseus with Medusa's snakes +Set free the maiden white like snow. + +And many skies have covered me, + And many winds have blown me forth, + And I have loved the green, bright north, +And I have loved the cold, sweet sea. + +But what to me are north and south, + And what the lure of many lands, + Since you have leaned to catch my hands +And lay a kiss upon my mouth. + + + + +The Years + + + +To-night I close my eyes and see +A strange procession passing me -- +The years before I saw your face +Go by me with a wistful grace; +They pass, the sensitive, shy years, +As one who strives to dance, half blind with tears. + +The years went by and never knew +That each one brought me nearer you; +Their path was narrow and apart +And yet it led me to your heart -- +Oh, sensitive, shy years, oh, lonely years, +That strove to sing with voices drowned in tears. + + + + +Enough + + + +It is enough for me by day + To walk the same bright earth with him; +Enough that over us by night + The same great roof of stars is dim. + +I do not hope to bind the wind + Or set a fetter on the sea -- +It is enough to feel his love + Blow by like music over me. + + + + +Come + + + +Come, when the pale moon like a petal + Floats in the pearly dusk of spring, +Come with arms outstretched to take me, + Come with lips pursed up to cling. + +Come, for life is a frail moth flying, + Caught in the web of the years that pass, +And soon we two, so warm and eager, + Will be as the gray stones in the grass. + + + + +Joy + + + +I am wild, I will sing to the trees, + I will sing to the stars in the sky, +I love, I am loved, he is mine, + Now at last I can die! + +I am sandaled with wind and with flame, + I have heart-fire and singing to give, +I can tread on the grass or the stars, + Now at last I can live! + + + + +Riches + + + +I have no riches but my thoughts, + Yet these are wealth enough for me; +My thoughts of you are golden coins + Stamped in the mint of memory; + +And I must spend them all in song, + For thoughts, as well as gold, must be +Left on the hither side of death + To gain their immortality. + + + + +Dusk in War Time + + + +A half-hour more and you will lean + To gather me close in the old sweet way -- +But oh, to the woman over the sea + Who will come at the close of day? + +A half-hour more and I will hear + The key in the latch and the strong, quick tread -- +But oh, the woman over the sea + Waiting at dusk for one who is dead! + + + + +Peace + + + +Peace flows into me + As the tide to the pool by the shore; + It is mine forevermore, +It will not ebb like the sea. + +I am the pool of blue + That worships the vivid sky; + My hopes were heaven-high, +They are all fulfilled in you. + +I am the pool of gold + When sunset burns and dies -- + You are my deepening skies; +Give me your stars to hold. + + + + +Moods + + + +I am the still rain falling, + Too tired for singing mirth -- +Oh, be the green fields calling, + Oh, be for me the earth! + +I am the brown bird pining + To leave the nest and fly -- +Oh, be the fresh cloud shining, + Oh, be for me the sky! + + + + +Houses of Dreams + + + +You took my empty dreams + And filled them every one +With tenderness and nobleness, + April and the sun. + +The old empty dreams + Where my thoughts would throng +Are far too full of happiness + To even hold a song. + +Oh, the empty dreams were dim + And the empty dreams were wide, +They were sweet and shadowy houses + Where my thoughts could hide. + +But you took my dreams away + And you made them all come true -- +My thoughts have no place now to play, + And nothing now to do. + + + + +Lights + + + +When we come home at night and close the door, + Standing together in the shadowy room, + Safe in our own love and the gentle gloom, +Glad of familiar wall and chair and floor, + +Glad to leave far below the clanging city; + Looking far downward to the glaring street + Gaudy with light, yet tired with many feet, +In both of us wells up a wordless pity; + +Men have tried hard to put away the dark; + A million lighted windows brilliantly + Inlay with squares of gold the winter night, +But to us standing here there comes the stark + Sense of the lives behind each yellow light, + And not one wholly joyous, proud, or free. + + + + +"I Am Not Yours" + + + +I am not yours, not lost in you, + Not lost, although I long to be +Lost as a candle lit at noon, + Lost as a snowflake in the sea. + +You love me, and I find you still + A spirit beautiful and bright, +Yet I am I, who long to be + Lost as a light is lost in light. + +Oh plunge me deep in love -- put out + My senses, leave me deaf and blind, +Swept by the tempest of your love, + A taper in a rushing wind. + + + + +Doubt + + + +My soul lives in my body's house, + And you have both the house and her -- +But sometimes she is less your own + Than a wild, gay adventurer; +A restless and an eager wraith, + How can I tell what she will do -- +Oh, I am sure of my body's faith, + But what if my soul broke faith with you? + + + + +The Wind + + + +A wind is blowing over my soul, + I hear it cry the whole night through -- +Is there no peace for me on earth + Except with you? + +Alas, the wind has made me wise, + Over my naked soul it blew, -- +There is no peace for me on earth + Even with you. + + + + +Morning + + + +I went out on an April morning + All alone, for my heart was high, +I was a child of the shining meadow, + I was a sister of the sky. + +There in the windy flood of morning + Longing lifted its weight from me, +Lost as a sob in the midst of cheering, + Swept as a sea-bird out to sea. + + + + +Other Men + + + +When I talk with other men + I always think of you -- +Your words are keener than their words, + And they are gentler, too. + +When I look at other men, + I wish your face were there, +With its gray eyes and dark skin + And tossed black hair. + +When I think of other men, + Dreaming alone by day, +The thought of you like a strong wind + Blows the dreams away. + + + + +Embers + + + +I said, "My youth is gone + Like a fire beaten out by the rain, +That will never sway and sing + Or play with the wind again." + +I said, "It is no great sorrow + That quenched my youth in me, +But only little sorrows + Beating ceaselessly." + +I thought my youth was gone, + But you returned -- +Like a flame at the call of the wind + It leaped and burned; + +Threw off its ashen cloak, + And gowned anew +Gave itself like a bride + Once more to you. + + + + +Message + + + +I heard a cry in the night, + A thousand miles it came, +Sharp as a flash of light, + My name, my name! + +It was your voice I heard, + You waked and loved me so -- +I send you back this word, + I know, I know! + + + + +The Lamp + + + +If I can bear your love like a lamp before me, +When I go down the long steep Road of Darkness, +I shall not fear the everlasting shadows, + Nor cry in terror. + +If I can find out God, then I shall find Him, +If none can find Him, then I shall sleep soundly, +Knowing how well on earth your love sufficed me, + A lamp in darkness. + + + + + + + IV + + + + + + +A November Night + + + + There! See the line of lights, + A chain of stars down either side the street -- + Why can't you lift the chain and give it to me, + A necklace for my throat? I'd twist it round + And you could play with it. You smile at me + As though I were a little dreamy child + Behind whose eyes the fairies live. . . . And see, + The people on the street look up at us + All envious. We are a king and queen, + Our royal carriage is a motor bus, + We watch our subjects with a haughty joy. . . . + How still you are! Have you been hard at work + And are you tired to-night? It is so long + Since I have seen you -- four whole days, I think. + My heart is crowded full of foolish thoughts + Like early flowers in an April meadow, + And I must give them to you, all of them, + Before they fade. The people I have met, + The play I saw, the trivial, shifting things + That loom too big or shrink too little, shadows + That hurry, gesturing along a wall, + Haunting or gay -- and yet they all grow real + And take their proper size here in my heart + When you have seen them. . . . There's the Plaza now, + A lake of light! To-night it almost seems + That all the lights are gathered in your eyes, + Drawn somehow toward you. See the open park + Lying below us with a million lamps + Scattered in wise disorder like the stars. + We look down on them as God must look down + On constellations floating under Him + Tangled in clouds. . . . Come, then, and let us walk + Since we have reached the park. It is our garden, + All black and blossomless this winter night, + But we bring April with us, you and I; + We set the whole world on the trail of spring. + I think that every path we ever took + Has marked our footprints in mysterious fire, + Delicate gold that only fairies see. + When they wake up at dawn in hollow tree-trunks + And come out on the drowsy park, they look + Along the empty paths and say, "Oh, here + They went, and here, and here, and here! Come, see, + Here is their bench, take hands and let us dance + About it in a windy ring and make + A circle round it only they can cross + When they come back again!" . . . Look at the lake -- + Do you remember how we watched the swans + That night in late October while they slept? + Swans must have stately dreams, I think. But now + The lake bears only thin reflected lights + That shake a little. How I long to take + One from the cold black water -- new-made gold + To give you in your hand! And see, and see, + There is a star, deep in the lake, a star! + Oh, dimmer than a pearl -- if you stoop down + Your hand could almost reach it up to me. . . . + + There was a new frail yellow moon to-night -- + I wish you could have had it for a cup + With stars like dew to fill it to the brim. . . . + + How cold it is! Even the lights are cold; + They have put shawls of fog around them, see! + What if the air should grow so dimly white + That we would lose our way along the paths + Made new by walls of moving mist receding + The more we follow. . . . What a silver night! + That was our bench the time you said to me + The long new poem -- but how different now, + How eerie with the curtain of the fog + Making it strange to all the friendly trees! + There is no wind, and yet great curving scrolls + Carve themselves, ever changing, in the mist. + Walk on a little, let me stand here watching + To see you, too, grown strange to me and far. . . . + I used to wonder how the park would be + If one night we could have it all alone -- + No lovers with close arm-encircled waists + To whisper and break in upon our dreams. + And now we have it! Every wish comes true! + We are alone now in a fleecy world; + Even the stars have gone. We two alone! + + + + + + +[End of Love Songs.] + + + + + + +{As an item of interest to the reader, the following, +which was at the end of this edition, is included. +Only the advertisement for the same author is included}. + + + + + + +By the same author + +Rivers to the Sea + + + +"There is hardly another American woman-poet whose poetry is generally +known and loved like that of Sara Teasdale. `Rivers to the Sea', +her latest volume of lyrics, possesses the delicacy of imagery, +the inward illumination, the high vision that characterize the poetry +that will endure the test of time." -- `Review of Reviews'. + +"`Rivers to the Sea' is a book of sheer delight. . . . Her touch +turns everything to song." -- Edward J. Wheeler, in `Current Opinion'. + +"Sara Teasdale's lyrics have the clarity, the precision, +the grace and fragrance of flowers." -- Harriet Monroe, in `Poetry'. + +"Sara Teasdale has a genius for the song, for the perfect lyric, +in which the words seem to have fallen into place without art or effort." +-- Louis Untermeyer, in `The Chicago Evening Post'. + +"`Rivers to the Sea' is the best book of pure lyrics +that has appeared in English since A. E. Housman's `A Shropshire Lad'." +-- William Marion Reedy, in `The Mirror'. + +"`Rivers to the Sea' is the most beautiful book of pure lyrics +that has come to my hand in years." -- `Los Angeles Graphic'. + +"Sara Teasdale sings about love better than any other contemporary +American poet." -- `The Boston Transcript'. + +"`Rivers to the Sea' is the most charming volume of poetry that has appeared +on either side of the Atlantic in a score of years." -- `St. Louis Republic'. + + + + + + +Sara Teasdale (1884-1933): + +Teasdale was born in St. Louis, Missouri, where she attended a school +that was founded by the grandfather of another great poet from St. Louis -- +T. S. Eliot. She later associated herself more with New York City. +Her first book of poems was "Sonnets to Duse" (1907), +[at least one poem in the current volume, "Faults", is from this book,] +but "Helen of Troy" (1911) was the true launch of her career, +followed by "Rivers to the Sea" (1915), "Love Songs" (1917), +"Flame and Shadow" (1920) and more. Her final volume, "Strange Victory", +is considered by many to be predictive of her suicide in 1933. + + + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Love Songs, by Sara Teasdale + |